Have your say on 2025 budgets for municipal services
Oxford County passed a budget in 2024 with a tax that cost taxpayers an extra 16.7 per cent. The planning of the 2025 version is underway and residents now have a chance to offer their input online.
The survey takes about five to 10 minutes to complete and the information collected will help participating municipalities know how well their services are understood, how they are valued and which ones are a priority for residents.
Residents who live in Blandford-Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock, Ingersoll, Norwich, South-West Oxford, Tillsonburg and Zorra are being asked about local area municipal services such as fire services, building and drainage services, parks and recreation, bylaw enforcement and more.
Oxford CAO Ben Addley said the more input the county gets from residents the better.
“I believe we had about 1,000 responses last year so that’s great, but with a population the size of Oxford it would be nice to see that even higher to really give us a good understanding of what the public is thinking,” Addley said.
County Warden Marcus Ryan has always welcomed public engagement and feedback throughout his political career as mayor of Zorra and warden of Oxford. He said if twice the amount of people responded, his next thought would be how can they get more.
“I’m not going to pretend that all engagement with the public for people in public office is positive, but frankly that’s part of the job. We need to hear from residents about what they like and what they don’t like. They can tell us the services they like and appreciate what they want us to spend more on or spend less on. We need to know that.”
He added there are 10 people on county council and five to seven on township councils, and what they choose to do with the information is up to them. Residents then decide if they are happy with the results.
“One thing I can tell residents is if they don’t tell us what they want, we can’t build what they want,” he added.
The county’s population has broken the 130,000 mark and, if you did the math, that means way less than one per cent of residents filled out last year’s survey. Addley explained each municipality has its own survey and the results are shared with staff and councillors.
“Each township wants feedback on services they deliver and the county wants feedback on services we deliver. We are able to do that under one survey. We get county feedback on water, wastewater, long-term care, paramedic services and housing. At the same time, you can provide your area municipality with things like arenas, roads and fire services.”
The survey allows residents to rate services by asking if they want it maintained at the current level, enhanced or even decreased. Last year’s nearly 17 per-cent increase could motivate more people to get involved, something Ryan welcomes.
“Democracy is engagement between the representatives and the people who are represented. We need to talk more than we do. Is this not what’s wrong with all levels of government? We really don’t talk very much anymore about actual policy stuff.”
Ryan added he wants to hear from residents about what they are hoping for, fearing and what they want the county not to touch at all in the 2025 budget. Ryan also doesn’t believe next year’s tax hike will be anywhere close to the 2024 result.
“There is no way that is going to happen. But in terms of results, I wouldn’t have voted for it if I didn’t think there was value,” he said. “The three big drivers of that budget were paramedic services, long-term care and homelessness. When I talked to residents, and I talked to a lot after that budget was passed, every single one of them said they didn’t want us to cut those things.”
He added that’s where council ended up. No one wanted the increase but the only thing worse would have been cutting the services that residents depend on. Ryan said unlike provincial and federal levels of government, the county isn’t able to borrow and go into debt for operational expenses.
“If we as a community want these services, we pay for them. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes the bill for things can hurt but that’s real life we all experience with our own personal finances. We might say, ‘I don’t really want the payment for that SUV but I really need it because my kids are big and they play hockey now.’ ”
Municipal property taxes collected from Oxford County residents are distributed to their local area municipality (township, town or city), Oxford County and the local school board designated by the homeowner according to the education tax rate set by the Government of Ontario.
Addley said he can’t speak for how other municipalities share the survey information they receive but the county will share their thoughts.
“We will have that feedback of what the survey told us in council reports. We are advising them and the public at that point what the results are.”
Funding for municipal programs and services comes from a range of sources including funding from federal and provincial governments as well as user fees and charges, which are special fees for bag tags, recreation, transit, water and wastewater set through bylaws enacted by each council.
Oxford County’s special budget meetings for 2025 take place on Nov. 20 and 25 with deliberation of the budget taking place at the regular county council meeting on Dec. 11.
The 2025 budget survey is open now until Aug. 30. To take the survey, visit Speak Up, Oxford! at www.oxfordcounty.ca/speakup.
Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Wilmot-Tavistock Gazette
